Robert Hislop raised more than four times as much money in contributions as his closest rival in the race to be the Republican nominee for House District 54, according to campaign finance reports filed this week.

Hislop, 66, who has raised more than $12,600 since entering the race in October, raised more than $4,800 since Jan. 1. Ray Scott, his 53-year-old fellow Republican who also is seeking the party’s nomination, has pulled in $1,148 so far this year.

A third Republican in the race, 28-year-old David Cox, filed his campaign finance report late Tuesday, almost a full day after the 11:59 p.m. Monday deadline. Cox’s report listed spending about $600 on T-shirts and other campaign material. He listed no contributions.

Cox declined an interview for this story.

By law, a campaign finance report is required if a candidate collects or spends any amount of money while campaigning.

As for the other candidates in the race, Scott said his relatively poor showing in raising cash is primarily because he hasn’t been doing much of it.

“I quite frankly have not tried to raise money at this point,” he said. “The reasoning for that was it didn’t make any sense to me until we got past the convention. Why collect a bunch of money from people that you may end up giving back? I didn’t feel it was fair to the voters until we know who’s on the ballot.”

The three men will face off before Republican Party delegates Saturday when the District 54 assembly meets at the Grand Junction City Hall, 250 N. Fifth St.

Hislop said he is pleased with the support people have shown, although only one-third of the money he has raised to date came from voters inside the district. All of Scott’s donations, meanwhile, came from district residents.

Of the $12,600 that Hislop has raised, less than half of that amount is still in his campaign’s bank account.

In that race, King has far outraised his only Senate District 7 opponent overall, but hasn’t done as well as Democrat Claudette Konola in fundraising this year. That’s partly because King has been busy with the 2010 legislative session, during which there are tight restrictions on what campaign donations can be accepted.

King has spent most of the $13,734 he has raised to date, leaving him with $822 cash on hand.

In the most recent reporting period from Jan. 1 to Monday, King raised $3,500, nearly all of which came from political action committees and legislative lobbyists in Denver and elsewhere.

By law, House and Senate members are barred from accepting campaign contributions during the legislative session. King said the money he received from those lobbyists came before the session began, even though five are listed as coming on Jan. 19, a week after the session started Jan. 12.

“We haven’t had any fundraisers after the session started,” he said. “You can’t receive a check during session, but if I receive it two weeks before session and it’s written before session, that’s all right. That’s what’s happened here.”

Konola raised $5,227 during the same reporting period and still has a little more than $5,000 on hand. Most of that money came from her bid for House District 54, but it was transferred to a new Senate account when she switched races last month.

The Democrat said only one person who had donated to her House bid requested his money back.